Series

Well it is Friday so why not have a run down of what has been fun this week.

We start this week with an update on the Final Fantasy XV film titled ‘Kingsglaive.’ Square Enix have recently updated the Japanese site for the upcoming title with new character information and still photos; all looking a lush as the FFXV world has been so far.

The film is expected to release just before Final Fantasy XV’s launch date (30 September) and will set the pace of what is happening in Lucis whilst Noctis & friends are on their own main storyline journey.

“SOME ARE SOLDIERS, WE ARE GHOSTS. We operate far beyond legions and armies, following our own rules. We change the fate of nations from the shadows. We are legends. We are GHOSTS.”

Ubisoft this week revealed the new trailer with showing in game action alongside information on the 4 editions of ‘Ghost Recon: Wildlands’ that will be available; which are:

Standard

Deluxe

Gold

Collector

Ubisoft also advertised that any pre-orders will receive a bonus mission set in Bolivia.

On a rather nervous note, upcoming game title No Man’s Sky, has been rumoured to have been delayed. The game was set to be released on June 21st but this seems to have been pushed back. At this moment and time it is still speculation but until official information is released, we are all in limbo as to whether this ambitious game will be delayed.

Now to end it with some trailers. Deus Ex just released the “Mechanical Apartheid” video:

and Fall Out 4 releases Mod’s on Xbox One first today:

Deus Ex is much loved game on this team making it one of our upcoming games of the summer. However even more importantly, this is the first time Mods have ever been on a console system — What a time to be alive.

Sad to see but the toys-to-life market seems to have cost Disney too much for their personal plans. $147 million to be exact; and with that have decided to cancel their Infinity series.

Disney’s game publishing arm, which appears to be defunct at this point, is part of the Consumer Products & Interactive Media division. That group saw a dip of 2% year-over-year for the quarter, but is up 4% at the half-year mark.

With this news they released a statement in which they said:

“After a thorough evaluation, we have modified our approach to console gaming and will transition exclusively to a licensing model,” says Disney consumer products and interactive media chairman Jimmy Pitaro. “This shift in strategy means we will cease production of Disney Infinity, where the lack of growth in the toys-to-life market, coupled with high development costs, has created a challenging business model. This means that we will be shutting down Avalanche, our internal studio that developed the game. This was a difficult decision that we did not take lightly given the quality of Disney Infinity and its many passionate fans.”

It is a shame that the Infinity series reached this point, thoughts go out to the employees affected by this situation with the CEO Bob Iger adding “..I give the developer a lot of credit for the product that they made. It was extremely well-received. But we knew going in that there would be a lot of risk with this product and the fact that we did so well initially gave us the confidence to continue with it. The truth of the matter is that the risks that we saw at the beginning when we started this caught up with us.”

Sad news but we hope the people affected move on to better opportunities.

Here we have the final press conference of E3 Day 0, by this point most people who watched and were involved with the day were nearing that tired phase but new games always perk us right up. Playstation did not disappoint this year with their roster of games and hardware

Playstation began immediately with a much awaited return of some of the finest storytelling in gameplay history in the form of The Last Guardian the first of many exclusives to be announced

After building the hype Sony then came from the left field with a game no one had heard of until yesterday (Day 0) in the form of Horizon: Zero Dawn. The tale follows remnants of the human race we know today living in a manner most likely to remind you of American Indians; except instead of fighting your fellow man, the game will lead you into situations that test the skills of your tribe… because “a storm is coming.”

Playstation kept the ball rolling with more great gameplay demos and titles to peak interests. Next up was the re-introduction of Agent 47 in HITMAN and the Playstation 4 exclusive Street Fighter V

HITMAN:

STREETFIGHTER V:

An appearance from last year’s successful No Man’s Sky team was well received again this year at E3 as last year was the idea being presented. This year we got to see how the space. no. How the Universe exploration game actually works, looks and feels. No Man’s Sky boasts its almost unimaginable sense of scale and for the first time we got to see it:

This piece of gameplay was then bolstered even further with Sony’s introduction of one of the more very well voice acted games in the current E3 line up Firewatch combined with an immersive atmosphere makes this a game to watch out for in the coming months.

Playstation’s first person shooter Destiny also made an appearance with news on their expansion DLC: The Taken King, which adds more content to the game for those who have completed the initial game campaign with the addition off a new adversary. his Father. (tried my hardest not to spoil)

Playstation also brought up some off their Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate exclusives which this year included some missions involving a string of murders within the city of London. Either protagonist character is able to be used for these but they are exclusive to Playstation 4

After Assassin’s Creed came the unveiling of a new Square Enix title in the form of Final Fantasy: World of Final Fantasy (2016 release)

But arguably the main event of this press conference was that finally after years of requests by the fans of the Final Fantasy series the staff at Square Enix finally decided to reveal Final Fantasy VII the Remake — which is the game remastered in 1080p next Gen graphics

After the hype of Final Fantasy we were then shown how some games like octodad & other kick-starters can be really successful by being directly helped by their fan base. Shenmue III a much loved J-RPG was shown to be the next in line to try and reach the same heights as a kickstarter by putting the “fate of Shenmue in your hands”

Batman Arkham Knight also made an appearance with the Playstation showing off their Scarecrow missions within the game. Moving on from this like Microsoft, Playstation also had some VR gaming (virtual reality) to show with Project Morpheus. Going the step further than Microsoft’s Oculus technology and announcing VR multiplayer experience

With that covered Playstation unveiled a shift in terms of CoD, which is now home at Playstation. Only last year did Xbox have all the CoD perks of first to get maps and Beta testing but now it seems that the Playstation 4 has taken up the mantle with Call of Duty: Black Ops III exclusive beta gameplay

Now this was towards the end of Sony’s Playstation press conference and to end they decided to show the partnership between Lucas Arts and the Playstation in the form of Disney Infinity. This partnership of course displayed a Star Wars link within Disney Infinity; showing how the Star Wars Saga is multi-generational & reflecting that in their entertainment. The initial phase is to produce the Star Wars Trilogy and then to bring in the original set of films for the older generation that grew up with that era of Lucas film & combining both experiences for a family like feel.

This led into the main attraction of the Star Wars fan time with the display of the upcoming release Star Wars Battlefront; looking great on the Playstation system the game demo performed well in displaying how the battles can escalate.

This press conference ended with the live gameplay demo of Sony’s Playstation’s title Uncharted 4 : A Thief’s End

and with that the conference came to a close. What games did you think seemed really good? any favourites? any NEW favourites?

Day 0 of E3 was not Microsoft’s day alone as next up was Electronic Arts; most commonly known in today’s world as EA – “it’s in the game”

With collaborations across the various platforms EA were there to show that just because they make games for both console giants doesn’t mean they can’t impress just as well. Choosing to start from the top they began with the introduction of NEED FOR SPEED :

This title featured a return to what is great about the franchise in all the forms it has been given to us before in the form of being an icon in each of the five things that make the franchise fun.

Speed – Speed is the connection that exists between car and driver that is only present at top speeds. It’s about keeping your nerve and never lifting off the gas. It’s about the adrenaline rush of taking a corner at high speed, having faith that your car will hold firm and not loose grip. The fearless always push the limits.

Style – Style is pure expression through driving, sending your car into a corner sideways with ultimate precision. It’s the feeling of freedom for that split second as your tires leave the ground, when you find yourself in a place where only you and the car exist. For some, style is all that matters.

Build – Build is where you take your car to the extreme through both visual and performance modification. The constant need to improve and personalize, shaping the car to your own vision. Craftsmen build, searching for perfection.

Crew – Ride together with your Crew and never hit the streets alone. Put your faith in others as bumpers come within inches of one another. This is the skill of close proximity chaos.

Outlaw – Become an Outlaw, messing with and escaping from the cops. Always looking to raise the stakes through risk vs reward driving, pushing the limits and looking over your shoulder. Live life on the edge as you crave the thrill of the chase.

EA boasted the seamless integration of actors and game elements within scenes & gameplay. From this the introduction to their Star Wars The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire

this fan favourite was said to be created with the fans requests in mind, with the want of more BioWare like choice based gameplay (play Mass Effect/Dragon Age if you are unsure what we mean) that determines outcomes in your story at pivotal points.

Another point of interest was the unveiling of the new IP unravel:

Using yarn like mechanics the game focuses on expressing the puzzle solutions in the different style, similar to LittleBig Planet but not ‘sickbay’ style. Also EA were of course showing of the 16’s of their sports gaming franchises:

and of course

Thats enough of the re-skinned gaming as EA really did fire on all cylinders this year with more trailers and gameplay footage, hope you enjoy:

February 2016 –

This wasn’t the only game on everyone’s mind with the soon to be released star wars film; Battlefront was in the air… then on screen:

The latter stages of EA’s press conference was their display of mobile applications syncing and sometimes enhancing their entertainment features with partner apps like the FIFA Ultimate Team 2015. This is a concept that will be ambitiously put to use with their Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic title, called Star Wars: Galaxy of heroes.

Electronic Arts are really making sure to keep up both on both console’s and on their own success as last year Titanfall was the talk of E3

Here we have one of Netflix’s most recent projects (in partnership with Marvel), another original series, Daredevil. Im sure we are all, if not mostly, now believe in the power of Netflix and this series only helps them dominate the streaming world. This series displays the life of the New York vigilante during his semi pre-vigilante days.

Fully taking a leaf out the previous incarnation of Daredevil (2003 film) the series keeps the high octane action, which is actually realistic violence in this current version, combined with the conflicting emotional struggles vigilante types go through before and as they choose the path.

As obvious as the story may be, the series presents the Daredevil tale with a brilliant modern flare that incorporates a host of characters in a situation ( good or bad) that is plausible for the kind of show. From the well choreographed fight scenes to the incentive plot that leads you on with each episode. Like all things with original incarnations some characters may not meet the required taste of viewers; but after the 5.1 (out of 10) rating from IMDb for the 2003 film, this series rating of 9.1 seems justified. It is that good. Bruce Wayne would approve.